Long live the average intelligence!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exgQ_0EogIo

Peter Kopa, 8.10.2022, Prague – The English version follows below

I comment on an article by Silke Wichert, appearing in the Neue Zuercher Zeitung, 15.10.22, criticizing the bad anxiety for self-improvement.

The urge to be better than others

Not to realize oneself more and more is a frenzy that is spreading, creating a whole new ‘industrial’ sector. After all, we have more options than ever to make ourselves more beautiful, richer, smarter or better, in some way: we hire coachings, beauty treatments, personal style consultants, apps for an optimal metabolism, perfect nutrition, various courses, etc. We thing that is not sufficient to be justa an average talent.

The economic sector of self-improvement works at full speed and is getting better and better. Those who do not participate think of themselves as unambitious, as they are missing the opportunity to move towards a new and better self, to surpass themselves and others, to stand out from the crowd. Our individualized and consumerist society promotes the tyranny of meritocracy.

Not a few even believe that happiness can only be achieved by surpassing the marks of one’s own performance.  And the challenging and incisive environment that influences us makes us forget the value of our personal dignity and all the good things we already have, being just average talents.

The mechanism of this deception lies first in a certain inferiority complex, which results from continually comparing ourselves with the most and the best of others. This confrontation then produces a certain envy and a negative and unappealable judgment about ourselves, which pushes us to put remedies: more muscles, better results at work, know more, achieve better appearance, have more (through money), etc.

The seduction of perfectionism

In fact, there has long been an awareness of this problem. The Economist magazine published a year ago an article entitled “The Perfectionism Trap”. Since then, the text has been insistently circulated on Instagram, which is not without a certain irony, considering the narcissism that comes out there. In this article, the London-based psychoanalyst Josh Cohen writes about his experiences with patients who are constantly chasing some kind of ideal. At some point a radical question falls on them: since when or why are we really so dissatisfied with being just “ordinary” people? That is, average talents.

68% of the population in Switzerland, and probably in all other countries, has an IQ between 85 and 115 points. And of course in this category are also those who have achieved a university degree. Very intelligent are 13.5% and gifted only 2.1%. Similarly, there are few people who are extraordinarily beautiful, or have extraordinary talents.

However, if a person has the advantage of being anchored in firm convictions, such as those taught to us by the ancient Judeo-Christian tradition, at some point he or she reaches the maturity to put his or her feet on the ground, and stop sounding off with wishful thinking. He learns to stick to the immediate reality of his situation in life, knows the good things he has and also his limitations, and accepts himself as he is.  This is true at the moment of forming one’s own family and embarking on a professional or artisan career. This is the only way to forge a happy life, not lacking in difficulties, as in any other vital option.

This position is based on the fact that one’s talents are accidental, because what really counts to be happy is to be anchored in God. From there, the hierarchy of values is unfolded, where the first thing is to love and to be loved. And this both in one’s own family as a son or daughter and in the subsequent life project, which is generally to get married and have children.

Whoever thinks that this is a fairy tale, should look at the whole history of art. The monotheme is always love and not personal talents, which is expressed in many different ways, as in a western movie, where the hero, after the struggle to save others, gallops away alone towards a horizon of setting sun. These are symbolisms that show the outcome of an act of love that expects neither recognition nor reward.